Leadership In Nursing - Nursing Leadership Theories

Defining leadership is hailed a complex task, due to leadership itself being a complex process (Holle & Kornusky, 2018). Nursing leadership is considered a critical component to navigate the commotion of contemporary healthcare settings, as effective nurse leaders can unite the nursing profession through chaos in a positive direction (Scully, 2015). The contents of this essay will explore the benefits and suitability of transformational leadership to contemporary healthcare settings and diverse nursing practice settings. This essay will also explore challenges faced by nursing leaders, such as nurse shortages, confused advanced practice nursing roles, the absence of a nurse leadership framework and the threat to nursing posed by COVID-19. Strategies to assist nurse leaders in overcoming these challenges will also be proposed and justified. Transformational leadership has been historically displayed by many leaders; however, it was not until 1973, that the term was coined by sociologist James V. Downtown. James M. Burns elaborated on the concept in 1978 by distinguishing differences between transformational and transactional leadership (Altekruse, 2016). In 1985, Barnard Bass opposed the idea that transformational, transactional and Laissez-faire leadership styles were not connected and suggested that good leaders displayed both transformational and transactional styles (Clark, 2015). Contemporarily a transformational